


Up and Down

by Dewstorm



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Explicit Language, First Meetings, M/M, One Shot, stuck in an elevator AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 21:48:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4075033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dewstorm/pseuds/Dewstorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just Nico's luck. The elevator gets stuck and the guy who's trapped inside with him is freaking out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Up and Down

**Author's Note:**

> Trapped in an elevator AU?! Trapped in an elevator AU.

A hand slammed into the side of the elevator door to prevent it from closing. Nico jumped at the clanging noise it made, looking up from his phone. 

A panting man stumbled into the small room, and damn he looked wrecked. His blonde wavy hair was mussed and matted in places like he had just woke up. He gave a tiny nod to Nico after pushing his floor button. 

“Sorry for, um, barging in.” The other guy heaved, still trying to catch his breathe. He walked over to the other side of the room across from Nico and stood facing the door.

Nico shrugged and looked back at his phone. “Not like it’s my elevator.” 

He was on his way to meet up with a group of his friends. They were throwing a surprise party tonight for Annabeth’s birthday. She worked at the building as an engineer and Percy had asked her boss to tell her to come in late tonight for a big project, but she’ll really be greeted with balloons and cake. 

Nico was sure to come early help to set up. Annabeth is a fantastic friend and there’s no way he’ll miss her party for some stupid reason. 

He sent a text to Percy: I’m on my way up. 

The blonde guy had seemed to calm himself down, his breathing becoming a normal rhythm. Had the poor guy just run a fucking marathon? Nico glanced sideways at him and noticed he was only carrying a tiny USB in his right hand. Strange.

Percy responded: Great! :) I’m here in her office so just come in. 

Nico was about to reply back when the elevator emitted an unnatural jiggle and produced a horrible shrieking sound. The blonde guy looked over at Nico and he returned it. The lights above started flickering and the elevator gave a final lurch upward before groaning into a halt. 

The lights had gone out completely. Nico and his stranger stood silently in the room, listening to each other’s breath. Both trying to comprehend what had happened. 

“Am I dead?” Nico heard the other shakily whisper. 

“No.” Nico responded calmly. “The elevator just stopped.” 

He could hear other guy’s breathing pick up “Am I going to die?” 

“Maybe.” He regretted saying it. He knew he had a stupid, dry sense of humor and the poor bastard sounds like he’s going to have a heart attack. 

“Oh God.” He said. Nico hears a thump and can see the he had sunk to the floor. 

Nico pulled out his phone and put it on flashlight mode. The small room suddenly exploded with light and he saw the blond hugging his knees to his chest and looking up at him. 

“Can you keep that on?” He asked quietly. “I don’t want to die in the dark.” 

Nico groaned and set his phone down in between them. “You’re not going to die, I was kidding. We’ll probably get out of here in, like, five minutes.” 

The other guy nodded incredulously and looked away from him. “I’m Will.” He mumbled. 

“Good to know.” Damn, Nico knew he’s a jerk, maybe Jason was right about learning to be polite around strangers. 

Nico turned the flashlight mode off, causing Will to make a strangled sound. “Oh relax, this will just take a second.” 

He was going to text Percy, but his messages weren’t loading. Fuck. There wasn’t any service. 

“Well, this is just fucking great.” Nico groaned.

Will looked over at him again. “Could you make it bright, please.” 

He turned the mode back on and set his phone down. He then walked to the back of the elevator and sat down against the wall. The two strangers sat in an awkward silence. Nico felt a little bad. This guy, Will, probably thought Nico was going to kill him. He noticed the blond was still shaking and would flinching violently whenever the elevator made the smallest noise. Nico knew should probably do something to calm him down. 

“Hey,” Nico said and Will looked over his shoulder at him. 

Now, what to say. Nico was pretty sure he was the most awkward person on the planet. He couldn’t make a decent conversation to save his life. But the sad sap in front of him looked like his head was going to explode. 

“So....what brings you here?” Oh God, Nico wished he could punch himself in the face. 

At least Will smiled. He shifted slightly so he was facing Nico, but his movements were still jerky as if one wrong one, the whole elevator would collapse. “My friend left her USB at her apartment and she really needed it because her other friend said her boss dropped a bomb that they had a project that was due at the end of tonight. Now I feel like a horrible person because I can’t get it to her.” 

Oh. “Was the name of your friend’s friend Annabeth Chase?”

Will pursed his lips. “Yeah, why?” 

Nico chuckled to himself, feeling bad for Will because he knew his laugh was weird as hell. “Don’t feel bad then, there is no project.” 

“What?” 

“The project’s made up. It’s Annabeth’s birthday tonight and the project was just a cover story to get her here.” Nico explained to Will’s confused face. 

The blond smiled though. “You know she called in her whole team, and they all think it’s real too. “

Nico shrugged, “Then it’s also a surprise for them.” 

Will actually laughed. His body had stopped shaking and his voice wasn’t breaking while he talked. Nico gave himself a mental pat on the back for restoring the guy’s mood. 

They continued the chat lightly. Talking mainly of the surprise party and how Will missed his acapella group meeting to get here. After a rather long tangent of how Nico doesn’t understand Percy’s daily life choice, he glanced at his phone and realized they’ve been in the elevator for a little of twenty minutes. 

“Fuck me.” Nico yelled and ignored Will who waggled his eyebrows. 

“Shouldn’t your friends notice if you’re missing?” Will asked. They had scooted closer to each other from their first conversation. Nico could have sworn he smelled mint on Will’s breath. 

“None of them besides Percy will be here for almost an hour. And Percy’s too fucking stupid to notice that I said I was here but haven’t shown up in thirty minutes.” 

Will didn’t respond, he just stared at Nico for a couple seconds. Nico found it disturbing but strangely enjoyable until he said, “I think you like this Percy guy. You at least like to talk about him.” 

He wanted to punch the blond in his stupid, perfectly symmetrical face. He felt like everyone knew that he was once in love with Percy. Fuck, Percy himself knew. But the fact that a complete stranger could tell just by having one conversation was infuriating and embarrassing. For some reason though, he wanted to tell Will everything. It was so easy to talk with him, it still takes Nico time to even have decent talks with his best friends, but this fucking stranger he’s only know for a short while, makes him want to open his heart. 

Will could probably tell the Nico had a lot of emotions about his statement, because he said, “Um sorry, listen, I didn’t mean to-” 

“It’s fine.” Nico interrupted him. “It’s water under the fucking bridge between me and him.”

Will nodded, signaling that if Nico wanted to stop talking it was fine. 

But Nico wanted to continue. “I...I used to have a stupid crush on him. When we were a lot younger. I was thirteen, he was sixteen. And, um, I was going through a rough time in my life, there were some family deaths and all, and Percy always seemed so strong and confident that I...that I clung to him. He was the first boy that I felt things for.” 

And definitely not the last, he thought as he stared into Will’s beautiful, blue eyes.

“I kept my feelings to myself for a really long time. I knew Percy was straight and in love with Annabeth, and I should have just accepted it, but instead I would lash out.” Nico signed. “It was a different friend, Jason, who helped me realize that staying fixated on things that can never progress can kill a person.”

Will placed his hand over Nico’s. It was probably for comfort, but Nico felt his face heat up. 

“So I left my feelings for him behind, and now I don’t know what I ever saw in him. So about your earlier statement. No, I don’t like Percy in that way, at least not anymore. Although I do try to cover up how much I appreciate his friendship by insulting him.” 

Wow. He can’t believe he told Will all of that. Nico had a hard time interacting with people especially attractive boys. Jason will be impressed with him. 

“Well, I’m glad things worked out for you.” Will said smiling. Fucker’s always smiling. 

Nico looked at their hands, still joined together. He wished he hadn’t because Will moved his away when Nico brought attention to it. Damn. 

Will was really good looking. In the romantic glow of Nico’s cell phone, the angles of the blond’s face were accentuated. Nico studied his soft, sloping cheekbones and slightly upturned nose. He thinks Will might have freckles, but it’s hard to tell. 

He catches Will staring at him too, which definitely boosts Nico’s confidence. He wonders if the blond finds him attractive. He also wonders- wait, fuck, is this guy even fucking gay? He gives Will’s body an entire once over and Nico can’t tell if the other’s outfit is really fucking gay or just really fucking hipster. He was wearing khaki chinos and tighter-ish red-striped polo. On his wrist was one of those leather watch things and other beaded bracelets. Damnit there’s no way to tell. 

“Hey,” Nico started, he couldn’t just ask Will if he’s gay. “Since I told you a very personal story,” 

“I should tell you one?” Nico nodded in respond. 

Will made a humming noise and looked away from Nico, as if in deep thought.

“Any awkward love stories?” Nico suggested after Will starting taking an abnormally long time staring off at nothing. 

He perked right up. “Yes! This was actually just last week and I haven’t told anyone because it’s really weird, so don’t you dare tell your friends about it.” 

“Cross my heart.” Nico said and did the movement with his hands. 

Will seemed oddly embarrassed. His face had become beet red and he hadn’t even started the story. “So last weekend, my friend, the same one I was bringing the usb to tonight, set me up on a blind date with this guy.” 

Bingo! He said guy! Houston, we have a gay.

“It started off fine. He nice and stuff. He pulled out my chair for me, ordered my meal and whatever. Then after dinner...he got weird.” Will audibly gulped. “The night went well so I thought might as well go back to his place, and on the way there he was telling me how happy he was that I was blonde.” 

Will wasn’t looking at Nico while he told his story, he looked really uncomfortable. 

“He said he only dates blondes, which I was fine with, everyone has their preferences. But then he started telling me I looked exactly like someone he used to date. He used some, um, pretty nasty words to describe the person and what he’d do to him if he ever saw them again.” 

“That should have raised a red flag.” Nico commented. 

Will shrugged. “I’m a trusting person.” He continued. “So when he got to his house, we started...you know...making out. It started off fine but then he got aggressive, and not like, sexy aggressive, but aggressive aggressive. And then, well, he started choking me.”

Nico tried to catch Will’s eyes, but he refused to look at him, his face was crimson. 

“So I pushed him off, screamed, and sprinted out of the house. The end.” 

The was more awkward silence before both Will and Nico started laughing hysterically.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m just picturing you running and screaming.” Nico got out through his giggles, wiping away tears. 

“Ahhh, it’s fine, I thought it was pretty funny too after I ran down a sidewalk for twenty minutes.” Will squeaked and leaned back against the wall. 

After they both caught their breath, Will asked Nico how long they’ve been in the elevator. And holy fuck, it’s nearing fifty minutes. 

“We’re going to be in here forever!” Will groaned and covered his face with his hands.

Nico was hoping they’d get out soon too, he didn’t want to miss Annabeth’s party. 

“You want to play a game?” Will asked, looking up from his hands. 

As long as it involves making out with you, Nico thought. “Why the fuck not.” 

“Okay, so I get to ask you any question and you have to answer, then you get to ask me one.” Will explained. 

Nico, being the wiseass he is, responded “What if I don’t want to answer it?” 

Will just pouted adorably at him. Fuck.

“Fine, whatever.” 

Will smiled happily. “Alright, first question! What’s your name?” 

Wow, really? Have they been talking for almost an hour and he’s never told Will his name. “Nico.” 

Will looked surprised, he probably didn’t expect it to be so weird sounding. He shocked Nico when he said “That’s a really beautiful name...Nico.” 

Nico couldn’t help but blush, no one besides his sister had ever complimented his name like that. He met Will’s eyes and something in his stomach twisted. He could feel tension in the elevator. “What’s your favorite animal.” Nico asked lamely. 

“A kiwi.” 

“I said animal, not a fruit.” 

“It is an animal! It’s a type of bird in New Zealand.” 

Nico rolled his eyes. “That’s a fucking pretentious answer.” 

“Sorry to disappoint you. Where were you born?” 

“Italy.” 

“Really!? That’s like, really, really, cool… but you can never become president.”

“How sad. Where were you born?” 

“Florida, the sunshine state.” 

Nico looked at Will’s tanned skin. He had been wondering how a New Yorker managed to pull off a tan that didn’t look like it came from a bottle. 

“My turn,” Will continued. “Do you like me?” 

“Yes.” He really did. He enjoyed talking to Will, he never wanted to stop. He wants to get to know him better and spend all of his time with him. “Do you like me?”

Will looked at him dead in the eyes. “Unspeakably so.”

He almost started laughing at Will’s choice of words.

Will looked away when asked his next question. “Do you want to kiss me, Nico?” 

Nico stared at Will’s perfect lips as they said his name. They seemed so plump and soft and full and God yes Nico wants to kiss him and kiss him and kiss him. 

“That really depends,” Nico whispered, causing Will to look over at him again. “Do you want to kiss me...Will?” 

Both of the questions were answered when the two young men lunged forward, crashing their lips together. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jason set his slice of cake down on the table. The party was going great! Not even that freak power outage could stop them. Annabeth never saw it coming and her unfortunate project team was also invited to join. Compensation for being forced to show up so late. But something was missing. 

“Hey Percy!” Jason called. 

“Yeah?” He asked when he got over to Jason. 

“Have you seen Nico anywhere?” 

“Well actually he said he was on his way up but that was a really long time ago...oh shit.” 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The security guard had finally pried the elevator doors open. The elevator was stuck between two floors, but Percy and Jason could still see Nico, clear as day, sitting in some stranger’s lap, eating his face off.


End file.
